Europe

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — A narrow diplomatic path stayed open as Ukraine and Russia planned another round of talks and Moscow’s forces pounded away at cities across the country, including the capital, in a bombardment that deepened the humanitarian crisis.

Shortly before dawn on Tuesday, large explosions thundered across Kyiv while Russia pressed its advance on multiple fronts.

MOSCOW, March 14. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on support measures for civil aviation, providing the opportunity of registering rights to foreign airplanes leased by Russian companies and issuing domestic airworthiness certificates to them. The document was posted on the official web portal of legal information.

YEREVAN, March 14. /TASS/: Armenia turned to the OSCE Minsk Group to arrange negotiations on signing a peace agreement with Azerbaijan, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

"Armenia responded to Azerbaijan's proposals and appealed to the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group to organize negotiations on a peace treaty between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan on the basis of the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act and the International Charter on Political and Civil Rights," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

MOSCOW, March 14. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 41,055 over the past day to 17,376,241, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Monday.

In relative terms, the growth rate reached 0.24%.

As many as 2,712 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day, down 15% from a day earlier. The number of hospitalized patients decreased in 50 regions. The situation remained unchanged in eight regions. A day earlier, 3,191 people were rushed to hospitals.

MOSCOW, March 14. /TASS/: Talks on restoring the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program are proceeding normally, without artificial delays, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

LONDON, March 14 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Monday that Russian forces could take full control of major Ukrainian cities and it had sufficient military clout to fulfil all of its aims in Ukraine without any help from China.

The United States and its European allies have cast President Vladimir Putin's invasion as an imperial-style land grab that they say has so far been poorly executed because Moscow underestimated Ukrainian resistance and Western resolve to punish Russia.

LVIV, Ukraine March 14 (Reuters) - Talks between Russia and Ukraine on Monday have started and communication between the two sides is hard but ongoing, Ukrainian presidential adviser and negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter.

Tweeting a photo of the talks, which are being conducted via video conference, Podolyak said: "The parties actively express their specified positions. Communication is being held yet it's hard. The reason for the discord is too different political systems."

GENEVA, March 14 (Reuters) - Hundreds of negotiators arrived in the Swiss city of Geneva on Monday for final U.N. talks on an ambitious pact that aims to halt and reverse the loss of habitats for endangered species ahead of a summit in China later this year.

The in-person talks are the first time negotiators from some 164 countries have met in two years due to COVID risks. They are seen as the last chance to thrash out details of the "post-2020 global biodiversity framework" to help protect species thought to be going extinct at the fastest rate in 10 million years.

BRUSSELS, March 14 (Reuters) - More than 2,400 civilians have been killed in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol since Russia invaded the country last month, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday.

Borrell, speaking at a news conference in Skopje, said that more than 2.6 million people have fled Ukraine and the number of refugees could swell to 4-5 million.

14 March 2022; MEMO: An Egyptian squash player has used his victory speech at the Optasia Championship at Wimbledon Club to ask why sports people are allowed to talk about Ukraine but not about Palestine.

"No one should accept any killings in the world, or oppression, but we've never been allowed to speak about politics in sports, but all of a sudden now it's allowed," said Ali Farag.